FRANCE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY France Is a Multiparty Constitutional
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FRANCE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY France is a multiparty constitutional democracy. The president of the republic is elected by popular vote for a five-year term. Nicolas Sarkozy is the incumbent. The upper house (Senate) of the bicameral parliament is elected indirectly through an electoral college, while the lower house (National Assembly) is elected directly. Elections for seats in the National Assembly and for the presidency in 2007 and for seats in the Senate in 2011 were considered free and fair. The Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) is the majority party in parliament. Security forces reported to civilian authorities. The most significant human rights problem during the year involved government evictions and compulsory repatriations of illegal immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria, many of whom were Roma. Several attacks against Roma were also reported. Overcrowded and unhygienic conditions in prisons were compounded by problems in the judicial system, including lengthy pretrial detention and protracted investigation and trials. French Muslims and others of immigrant origin faced some discrimination, particularly, in the case of Muslims, as a result of a prohibition against face-covering attire in public institutions. Other human rights problems reported during the year included antidefamation laws that limited freedom of speech and press, societal violence against women, anti-Semitic incidents, and trafficking in persons. The government took steps to prosecute and punish security force and other officials who committed abuses. Impunity was not widespread. Note: The country includes 11 overseas administrative divisions that are covered in this report. Four overseas territories in French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Reunion, have the same political status as the 22 metropolitan regions and 101 departments on the mainland. Five divisions are overseas “collectivities”: French Polynesia, Saint-Barthelemy, Saint-Martin, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, and Wallis and Futuna. New Caledonia is a special overseas collectivity with a unique, semiautonomous status between an independent country and an overseas department. Mayotte became the 101st department on March 31, 2011. Citizens of these territories periodically elect deputies and senators to represent them in parliament, like the other overseas regions and departments. Section 1. Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from: a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011 United States Department of State • Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor FRANCE 2 There were no reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings. Killings in Corsica were predominantly linked to organized crime and Corsican nationalism. As of December 5, there were 22 killings reported for the year, 15 of which were linked to organized crime. In 2010 authorities reported 81 bombings or attempted bombings as well as 16 killings and 14 attempted killings in Corsica. On November 30, Amnesty International (AI) wrote the minister of justice regarding the cases of five men--one French citizen of Senegalese origin and four foreign nationals of Mali, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco--who died in police custody between 2004 and 2009. The letter expressed the need for a prompt and independent investigation without further delay and AI’s concern that there had been little or no progress to fully investigate the cases and that the law enforcement officers involved in the cases had not been subject to investigation or charge. b. Disappearance There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances. c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment The constitution and law prohibit such practices. However, there were occasional accusations of police discrimination and degrading treatment. During the year there were occasional reports that police used excessive violence during counterdemonstration operations. In May 2010 police fired a flash ball close to a crowd during a violent demonstration in Neuilly-sur-Marne, causing a protester to feel dizzy for several days. In May the National Commission on Security Ethics (CNDS) ruled that the use of the flash ball was disproportionate and recommended the officer involved be prosecuted. On February 3, the inspector general of the gendarmerie (IGG) opened an investigation after a gendarme threw a gas grenade at peaceful demonstrators in Anduze on January 21. The gendarme involved was transferred to Marseille in July. The IGG and the Nimes prosecutor were investigating the incident. Prison and Detention Center Conditions Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011 United States Department of State • Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor FRANCE 3 Both credible nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and government officials reported overcrowding and unacceptable hygienic conditions in prisons. In December the Ministry of Justice and Liberties reported that 65,262 persons, including 2,200 women and 750 juveniles, were incarcerated in the country’s 189 prisons, exceeding prison capacity by 8,007 inmates. In a report published on December 8, covering the period 2005-11, the International Observatory for Prisons (OIP) strongly criticized overcrowding, limited access to health care, and lack of human contact in the country’s prisons. According to the study, there were 60,761 prisoners in December 2011 but enough space for 56,358. The document also stated that the prevalence of tuberculosis was 10 times higher in prison than outside and that prisons did not have the capacity to care for the 20 percent of the prison population that suffered from mental disorders. In its 2010 annual report published on May 3, the controller general for detention facilities criticized the violation of basic rights in prisons, including failure to provide decent living conditions to prisoners. According to the report, such violations “too often go unreported.” There were no reports of prisoners lacking access to potable water. Although there were no known deaths in prison due to mistreatment or adverse conditions during the year, prison suicides continued to be a problem. According to the OIP, 97 inmates committed suicide from January 1 to October 31, an increase of 8 percent compared with the same period in 2010. The OIP reported that, from 2003 to 2010, there was an average of one prison suicide every three days, a number five to six times larger than suicide rates outside prison. There were no reports of deaths in prison during the year other than by suicide or from natural causes. Authorities maintained administrative holding centers for foreigners whom they could not immediately deport. There were 24 holding centers on the mainland and three in the overseas territories. On December 14, a cooperative of five NGOs published a report titled 2010 Report on Detention Centers. According to the report, in 2010 more than 60,000 persons passed through detention centers in France or one of its overseas territories, an 80 percent increase from 2005. The number of families and children in these centers also increased from 57 families with 318 children in 2009 to 178 families with 356 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011 United States Department of State • Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor FRANCE 4 children in 2010. The group criticized the constant tension and violence among inmates, which allegedly resulted from the centers’ inability to ensure equal rights. Prisoners and detainees had reasonable access to visitors and were permitted religious observance. Authorities permitted prisoners and detainees to submit complaints to judicial authorities without censorship and to request investigation of credible allegations of inhumane conditions. Authorities investigated credible allegations of inhumane conditions and documented the results in a publicly accessible manner. The government investigated and monitored prison and detention center conditions. The inspector general for places of detention, an independent authority, is responsible for ensuring that detainees’ fundamental rights are respected. In addition detainees may address issues about the prison or justice system to the state mediator or his delegate, who are part of the office of the defender of rights, the equivalent of an official ombudsman on civil liberties. To reduce overcrowding, the government opened four new prisons since 2007 with a total of 6,000 additional places. It increased the prison system budget by 10 percent, to 2.1 billion euros ($2.7 billion), in 2010. As of November 1, 7,886 prisoners were under electronic surveillance, a 31.5 percent increase over 2010. Those under electronic surveillance were still considered prisoners because they remained under surveillance in their homes. New prisons had gymnasiums, outdoor recreation areas, and family spaces, and the Ministry of Justice and Liberties continued to increase prisoner access to work, sports, libraries, worship, cultural services, education, and training programs during the year. The government permitted prison visits by independent human rights observers, local and foreign. The UN Committee against Torture (CAT) examines the country’s prisons every four years, most recently in April 2010. The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) also conducted an inspection of prisons in 2010. In July the CPT gave a report on the visit to the French government, which postponed its publication until 2012.